BAGHDAD -- Iraqi commanders heavily dependent on outside support to defeat the Islamic State group are increasingly voicing frustration over the U.S.-led coalition's efforts, complaining of miscommunication, failed deliveries of weapons, inadequate training and differences in strategy.

The Pentagon said Saturday that four Afghans from the Guantanamo Bay detention centre have been returned to their home country in what U.S. officials are citing as a sign of their confidence in new Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

CANBERRA, Australia — Australia is to spend $30 billion on defence next year.
For Canada to match that, on a per-capita basis, the Harper government would have to dole out close to $42 billion instead of the $20 billion that it plans to spend on defence.

That was a cracker of a column my Postmedia colleague, Michael Den Tandt, unloaded the other day, taking the Harper government to task for its "disjointed, underfunded, poorly understood (and) chronically secretive" defence policy.

Question: For how much longer can the federal Conservatives shamble along with a national defence and procurement posture that is disjointed, underfunded, poorly understood, chronically secretive and increasingly, obviously unequal to the challenges at hand?
This week at the G20 in Brisbane, Australia, Prime Minister Stephen Harper will wax combative about the growing list of strategic and security brushfires faced by the global club of pluralistic democracies, of which Canada purports to be an important member.

COLD LAKE, Alta. - Six Canadian fighter jets left to join an international combat mission against Islamic State extremists in Iraq on Tuesday as the defence minister paid tribute to a soldier killed at home.

By Lolita C. Baldor
SANTIAGO, Chile - U.S. Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said Saturday the U.S. is making "considerable progress" in its negotiations with Turkey over the plan to train and equip moderate Syrian rebels in their fight against Islamic State militants.